Axel, A Tale of Fire
by Thief-King
Summary: Story of Axel, or Alex, I should say, before he was a Nobody. Just read the story. It's pretty good. My friends have told me so.


**Author's Note:** Alright! I haven't exactly played the game, but I did watch pretty much all the KH2 videos/cutscenes I could find, so I'm going with what I have to work with, okay? This is about Axel. Non-slash. Non-yaoi. For you fans, go somewhere else, unless you can stand to read the straight version.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own KH2 or any of the characters/places/etc. That is all copyrighted to the people at Disney and/or Squaresoft. I don't give a damn if they sue me for using any of it for my own "sinister plans" in writing this fanfiction. Got it?

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Dawn. The sunrise always brought Alex a sense of peace to his heart. He would sit at his open window, the breeze blowing through his auburn hair and across his skin. The cool and peaceful sensation could not be brought on by anything else. Today was no exception.

The sun had fully risen and was now making its way up into the sky, bringing a new day with its warm beams of light. Alex sighed, pushing himself from the window and began to dress for the day. After all, he still had to go to school. Pulling on his uniform, this consisted of black pants and a white shirt and a tie, the fourteen-year-old grabbed up his schoolbag and headed downstairs where his mother was cooking breakfast.

She greeted him with a warm smile as she set a plate of pancakes on the table. Alex piled four onto his own plate and poured himself a glass of orange juice. He ate quickly and cleaned his plate before giving his mother a kiss on the cheek and skirting out the door to catch up with his friends. She simply smiled, shaking her head at this routine.

"Hey! Wait up, guys!" Alex shouted to a pair of boys walking down the path. They stopped and turned, laughing as their friend came sprinting towards them, out of breath and not quite as clean as he was when he left the house. (He took a couple stumbles along the way.)

"What's up, Al?" One asked. "You seem...less than, um, clean...today." He had short, black hair that was styled up into a Mohawk. He was the tallest of the three.

"I tripped..." Alex mumbled. "...four times..." The boys laughed. "I didn't mean to, Zeale! Stop laughing at me!"

The other put an arm around Alex's shoulders, brushing the tears forming in his eyes.

"We're not laughing at ya, Al." He said. "We're, uh...laughing with ya!"

"But, I'm not laughing, Danxus." Alex replied, shrugging off the boy's arm. Danxus jumped back in mock surprise and brushed back his blonde hair with a quick hand, only to have the locks fall back over his eyes.

"Did you hear that, Zeale?" Danxus pulled the taller boy in front of him, his face peeking over Zeale's shoulder. "He wasn't laughing!"

"Tsk, tsk. I guess this means we can't go see Saria today." Zeale looked to his companion. "She loves to laugh."

Alex caught onto this quickly. "Well, I guess...it was pretty...funny—"

"That's the spirit!" Zeale slapped a hand on his back, making the boy stumble forward, losing his balance once more and falling onto the dirt. Both Zeale and Danxus clapped a hand over their mouths to keep from laughing, but as Danxus let out a loud snort, they nearly toppled over themselves with fits of laughter. Alex merely stood up and brushed off his pants, picked up his bag and began walking away. The two were left behind until they noticed that he had walked off. With shouts between laughs, the two caught up with him and the three friends headed to the schoolhouse together.

Far away, on another world, a dark figure was watching the scene unfold before him. His eyes flashed menacingly from beneath his hood, a smile forming at his lips.

"Are you sure that he will be the next, Xemnas?" Another cloaked figure appeared behind the first, gazing into the orb with curiosity.

"I'm more than sure, Xigbar." The man replied. "I'm positive."

"Shall I receive him, then, sir?"

"That won't be necessary, Vexen." His dismissed the boy's comment with a wave of his hand. His eyes focused on the figure in the orb. "He'll come to us in time."

"Can you believe Mr. Isaiah?" Zeale complained as they left the school. "I mean!" He threw up his arms. "I don't have time to do a three-page essay by next Tuesday on some stupid plant! I have to slack off!" He took hold of Alex's shirt. "It's what I do!"

"Well, unlike you, I would like to get this done on time." Alex pried the teen's hands off and smoothed out his shirt. "Without my dad around, mom needs me to work that job up at the flower shop to help pay off the bills." He said, adjusting his bag on his shoulder. "On top of that, I have school and the homework that comes with it."

"Man, I'd hate to be you." Danxus replied, rubbing his chin.

Alex sighed. "Yeah, I know." He waved goodbye as he walked up his front steps, whispering to himself, "I'd hate to be me, too."

Alex lay in bed that night, staring up at the ceiling. His mind was racing with thoughts about his father and how he'd abandoned him and his mother. They hardly got by then, but now, it was almost impossible. The teen slammed his fist down on the bed, the cotton blankets absorbing the blow.

"Damn it!" He cursed. "It's his entire fault that we have to live this way!" He pushed himself to a sitting position and slid his legs over the edge of the bed. Propping his head in his hands, he looked out the window. "At least, we're alive. If I ever lost mom, I don't know what I'd do."

The stars seemed to twinkle in reply. He swore he saw one wink at him. He held his breath before laughing it off. He was hallucinating. His eyes moved back to the sky. He could just imagine a smirk forming in the stars, saying that he was a loser.

"Maybe I am a loser. Maybe I shouldn't be living." He let his hands drop, his arms resting limply on his knees. "I'm probably just a burden to mom."

"Why would you think that, Alex?"

The boy whipped around so fast, he tumbled off the bed in a heap. He groaned, rubbing his back. His mother came over to him and knelt down next to him. She took her son in her arms, holding him to her.

"Never have you been a burden to me, Alex." She whispered. Tears began to form in her eyes. "You've been the light that keeps this family alive. Don't ever lose that light in your heart. Promise me."

He hesitated, his hands holding the arms that held him. "I promise."

The night passed quickly, leaving Alex with a sinking feeling in his gut. He missed the sunrise and felt bad about that. He hadn't missed one since he was five. His mother called for him to come downstairs, that he'd be late for school. When he didn't respond, she came up and found him asleep at his window, pale, cold and coughing harder than ever. She put him in bed and called the doctor to come over and have a look at him. The doctor said it was nothing more than a cold and he would be fine in a few days as long as he rested and drank plenty of fluids. She was relieved to hear that and thanked the man. Alex was glad that his mother was happy he wasn't dying and fell back into an uneasy sleep.

"Are you sure he hasn't died yet, Ms. Lark?" Danxus asked. Alex's mother shook her head.

"I'm sure. He's still breathing, but he seemed to have been so exhausted, he went into a mild coma, you could say." Her words were confident, but deep inside, she worried. Alex hadn't woken up for nearly two weeks. She stayed by his side every day she got home and into the night, fearing what might be happening to him as he tossed and turned in his sleep. The nightmares that filled his mind were getting worse and the woman feared there was nothing she could do to help him. The doctor had been out of town, so he was not there to help and there was no one else she could turn to for this kind of crisis.

Danxus sighed, bringing the woman back to the present. "Well, I'll tell Mr. Isaiah that Alex is still ill."

"Thank you, Danxus. I appreciate it." She watched as he trudged off down the path, shutting the door as he disappeared from view.

"_Do you think she really wants you here? You're just a burden to her. She would be better off if you had left like your father."_

"That's not true!" Alex sighed, wishing he could believe his own lies. "I'm sure...she still...still loves...me..."

"_Why would anyone love a trouble like you? You're just holding her back from what she wants to do. She can't live a good life with your weight on her shoulders. Even now, she's wishing you were gone."_

"Maybe...if I only had never existed...she would be better off."

"_Yes. She only said she needed you for the extra money. She doesn't need your..._light_. She probably made that all up. Perhaps...you don't have one."_

"Yeah...maybe you're right."

The next day, Alex finally made an appearance in the conscious world.

Blinking his eyes open, he found himself in bed with a cool cloth lying on his pillow. He groaned and tried to sit up, feeling a weight at his feet. He glanced down and saw his mother fast asleep, her dark purple hair cascading over her forehead and onto the blankets.

Careful not to wake her, Alex slid out from under the covers on the opposite side and tiptoed to the door. He made it there without problem, but as he pulled at the handle, a loud squeak erupted and his mother was on top of him. She held him tightly and smothered him in kisses, thankful that he finally was conscious.

"Oh, I was so worried! I thought maybe you had died and your body was still functioning. Or, that you decided that you didn't want to wake up and you'd go into some kind of eternal sleep. Or—"

"Mom!" Alex finally got a word in. She looked down, meeting his green eyes.

"What is it, sweetie?"

"I have to go to the bathroom."

She jumped back, releasing him as if he sent an electric shock through her. "Sorry."

"It's okay." He replied. Standing, he quickly sprinted downstairs and out of sight. There was a loud crash before hearing, "I'm alright!" and then the slamming of the bathroom door. Ms. Lark sighed, a smile on her face and her spirits higher than the clouds. She had her son back and there was nothing that would take him away from her again.

Ms. Lark refused to let Alex go to school the next two days. She felt that he needed his rest and that he could catch up on his homework over the summer. But, Zeale and Danxus wouldn't take the word of a woman who said that their friend was now conscious. They had to see for themselves.

Danxus was the first to see him, and therefore, the first to tackle him. Zeale came in and joined the fray, both being shoved roughly away by a surprised and agitated Alex.

"So, you didn't die, huh?" Zeale confirmed this by jabbing the fourteen-year-old in the side—hard.

"Ow...! No, I didn't die, Zeale." Alex hissed. "I just was really exhausted."

"Yeah, you could say that again." Danxus said, prodding the boy also. "Your mom was worried you went into a mild coma, or something."

"I...I think I did. I had this really strange dream." Alex met the shocked and interested faces of both Danxus and Zeale.

"Tell us!" They exclaimed in unison.

"I can't really remember anything. Just...a voice."

"What did it say?" Zeale asked.

"Something about a light. And how my mom doesn't need me—that I'm just another burden to her." He answered, trying to find his thoughts. He couldn't recall anything. He seemed to have holes in the back of his mind and his memories had escaped through. At least, the strange ones with the voice. And during his "coma", it wasn't the first time he had heard the voice. He'd heard it the night his father left and for weeks after. He was only four then, so it was possible that he didn't _want_ to remember those days.

"Earth to Alex...come in, Alex!"

Alex was released from his thoughts, having received a sharp cuff from his friend on the back of the head. He rubbed the spot.

"Sorry. I just got caught up in the thought." He replied, pushing himself to his feet.

"It's okay, man." Danxus followed suit, as did Zeale. They all looked to each other, small smiles coming to their faces. "So...you wanna go grab an ice cream?"

Alex nodded. "Sure."

000

I started this sometime last year. I don't think I'll ever finish it, but you never know. Tell me what you thought about it at least.


End file.
